Offices Held

Biography

Andrews came from a forceful Worcestershire family, the eldest branch of which entered the ranks of the squirearchy in their native county during the 17th century. A cousin, Theophilus Andrews, sat for Evesham in 1659. Andrews himself is first heard of in 1627 in the service of John Ashburnham I, and, though he is sometimes described as a merchant, it is clear that he was principally a financier, in which capacity he had dealings with the 1st Duke of Buckingham. During the Civil War he paid £50 without demur to the committee for the advance of money; a charge of sending twice as much to the King ‘as a testimony of his affections’ could not be sustained. In 1645 he bought Little Berkhampstead in Hertfordshire from the mother of Humphrey Weld, and was nominated to the commission of the peace during the Interregnum, but he does not seem to have taken the oaths. He represented his neighbour Sir John Harrison in negotiating with his partners in the customs farm during bankruptcy proceedings in 1654, but moved to Denton, which had been mortgaged to him by a ruined Cavalier, in the following year, though he resided chiefly, as before, at his place of business in the City.3

Rather surprisingly, Andrews was not without friends among the Kentish gentry, notably Henry Oxenden of Barham, who may have facilitated his return for Hythe, ten miles from Denton, at the general election of 1660. An inactive Member of the Convention, he was named to four committees, including those for the excise bill and settling the military establishment of Dunkirk. On 9 Nov. he brought to the attention of the House a case of illegal export of wool; the culprits were ordered to be sent for in custody, but the charge was eventually dropped. He was re-elected in 1661 after a contest which cost him £140, seven times what he had expected. A moderately active Member in his few months in the Cavalier Parliament, he was appointed to 12 committees, of which the most important were for the corporations and uniformity bills and to examine the revenue. He died on 23 Sept. 1661, aged about 61, and was buried at Denton. If his memorial inscription is to be believed, he had never recovered from his exertions in carrying the canopy at the coronation. He seems to have been the last of the family to sit in Parliament, and Denton Court was sold by his son, a victualling contractor, in 1669.4